Bucs coach Schiano's staff nearly complete

Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano said the three-plus weeks he's been on the job have been three of the craziest weeks of his coaching career. The craziness, though, is about to come to an end.

Slowed by a process that allows NFL teams to deny assistant coaches the chance to move up the coaching ladder with rival teams, Schiano said his quest to complete his staff should soon be over.

"Leadership to me is everything and your coaching staff needs to be your leadership, so I've spent a lot of time on it, and I think we're getting close,'' Schiano said Thursday during a news conference at the NFL scouting combine.

As Schiano spoke, the Bucs released the names of the members of his defensive coaching staff. Schiano also confirmed reports of several hires on the offensive side of the ball.

Among the coaches Schiano said will be a part of his offensive staff are Bob Bostad, the former offensive coordinator at the University of Pittsburgh, and P.J. Fleck, a former 49ers receiver and Rutgers receivers coach. Bostad will coach the offensive line while Fleck will coach receivers.

Schiano also announced the hiring of former Oakland Raiders special teams coach Bob Ligashesky as the special teams coordinator.

"It's been kind of a crazy (three) weeks, trying to put together a coaching staff at the same time trying to meet some of our players that stop by the facility, but it's been fun,'' Schiano said.

Schiano did not say how many prospective coaching candidates were denied a chance to speak to the Bucs, but said the system definitely slowed down the hiring process.

"When I left the National Football League (after three years as a secondary coach with the Bears) in 1998, it was kind of an unspoken rule that when you had advancement, you could move from club to club,'' Schiano said.

"I also understand that abuse leads to restrictions, and that's exactly what happened with all the half-baked titles and that stuff that we have now. So it has been difficult.

"There are people that are my contemporaries, guys that I came up in the business with, that I had a desire to have on our staff, but we were unable to do that, because of contractual obligations, and that's understood.

"So then we kind of moved to different people that I thought were equally qualified but that maybe I had not worked with or guys that I didn't know quite as well.

"We're not all done yet. We probably have, I think, three positions still to fill. Some are assistant positions, but I'm comfortable with the pool of people that we have and I'm not going to rush.''

Schiano said quarterbacks coach is one of the positions that still has to be filled.